A Senate official on Saturday removed security funding that could be used for Donald Trump’s planned $400 million White House ballroom from a massive spending package, setting up a new fight over how much taxpayer money can be tied to the project. The ruling by Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough could keep the ballroom-related spending out of a $72 billion bill expected to move to a floor vote this week.
Democrats quickly cast the decision as a setback for Republicans, who were seeking $1 billion in taxpayer funding for the Secret Service for security upgrades that would include the ballroom. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday evening that “Republicans tried to make taxpayers foot the bill for Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom,” adding that “Senate Democrats fought back – and blew up their first attempt.” He said Democrats “will be ready to stop them again” if Republicans try to rewrite the legislation.
The ruling landed at a politically sensitive moment for Trump and his allies. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but most legislation still needs 60 votes to advance, making the chamber’s rules a central obstacle even when the president’s party is in control. The spending package itself is expected to pass on a party-line vote, with Democrats opposed, and most of it is devoted to immigration enforcement.
Trump has said the ballroom will be paid for by private donors, while his administration says the project would modernize infrastructure, bolster security and ease strain on the White House. But Republicans have argued that taxpayer-funded security upgrades are needed to protect the presidency, pointing to an April incident in which a gunman tried to storm a black-tie media gala in Washington that Trump attended. Trump wrote on social media that the ballroom would be “the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World” and said it should be completed around September 2028.
The dispute also revives a larger fight over Trump’s reshaping of the executive mansion. He ordered the demolition of the White House’s East Wing last year, and the White House’s East Wing was originally constructed in 1902 during Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency. Republicans could still try to revise the spending measure and seek MacDonough’s approval again, but the first ruling shows how quickly the ballroom plan can run into resistance when it relies on public money. For now, the immediate question is whether Republicans will press ahead with a revised bill or leave the ballroom funding off the package entirely.
